I just can't figure this out!

[pcostanza]

OK, I capture video via my ATI 8500DV (firewire) as AVI and it looks great. Then, no mater if I split, edit, add transitions or whatever, whether I render to AVI or MPG2 it doesn't matter, the finished piece does not look nearly as good. The movie looks almost pixaleted. I don't know how to desribe it well but when the camera moves, the items are not shown clearly. They become somewhat blurred or edgy. I've tried rendering in the highest of quality and the middle quality settings.
Sorry I can't put into words what the movie looks like. I've tried everything from Pinnacle S8, DVD workshop, MyDVD, even Arcsoft Showbix and DVD Complete and it's always the same.
I thought it was the camcorder (Canon Z45) but the raw captured footage is fine. It's only after I finish the movie that the final product is not up to par.
NE1 have NE ideas?
Thanks for your time.

[GenePool_]

What settings are you using to encode the mpeg2 file?

[pcostanza]

I'm using the highest settings which I think are 8000 which would only allow 1 hour of recording.
Isn't capturing to AVI preferable to Mpeg?

[pcostanza]

I forgot to mention something that is probably important to my issue....if I use my DV camcorder as a pass thru for my analog, the finished product is fine. The 8mm tapes are 10 years old and while the colors are not crisp, the moving images are perfect. It's just the dv movies that are the problem.
Hope this info helps.